AfD candidate wins mayoral elections in Germany for the first time. Turkey’s central bank chief has to move back in with her parents – because rents are becoming too expensive

An AfD candidate has won the mayoral elections in Germany for the first time. Tim Lochner (53) was in Saxony on Sunday Pirna in the second voting round against two opponents of the CDU and the Free Voters. Lochner himself is independent of any party, but stood as a candidate for the AfD. According to the preliminary results, he received 38.5 percent of the votes, the city announced on its website in the evening. Behind them are Kathrin Dollinger-Knuth (CDU) with 31.4 percent and the independent Ralf Thiele with 30.1 percent. He took part in the race for the Free Voters. Lochner and Thiele were also former CDU members. Voter turnout in the elections was 53.8 percent, slightly higher than in the first round (50.4 percent).

Lochner thanked his supporters after the election, declaring Sunday night, “I promise to make it through the seven years.” He wants to approach the things that come his way with “peace and tranquility”.

The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Saxony recently classified the Saxon AfD as a confirmed right-wing extremist effort. After his election on Sunday evening, Lochner answered the question whether he had difficulty moving to the town hall for the AfD after his election on Sunday evening. When asked about his previous statements about a “population exchange” – a conspiracy narrative widespread in right-wing circles – Lochner emphasized that he had said this as a private person. He added: “If in certain parts of the city we have a 38 percent share of foreigners in primary schools and daycare centers, then for me that is an exchange of locals.”

Before Pirna, AfD candidates had already won two important local political offices in Germany. In June, the AfD won a district election for the first time – with Robert Sesselmann in the Sonneberg district of Thuringia. In August, Hannes Loth was elected the first mayor of a German municipality in Raguhn-Jessnitz (Saxony-Anhalt).

Ahead of the elections in Pirna, Saxon AfD leader Jörg Urban spoke of a powerful template for next year’s elections. The AfD wants to reach the 40 percent mark in the state elections in September, Urban said. The mayoral elections in Pirna show “that it is possible”.

A coalition of the CDU, the Greens and the SPD currently governs Saxony, with Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) at the helm. A survey published in early December shows that the AfD is on par with the CDU at 33 percent.

Lochner has been on the city council of the city in Saxon Switzerland, which has about 40,000 inhabitants, for years. He had already participated in the mayoral elections in Pirna in 2017, but lagged behind the incumbent Hanke with 32.9 percent of the votes. Contact with the AfD was made through the municipal faction, the master carpenter said when asked before his election as mayor. “I was approached, it worked and I was chosen unanimously.” However, Lochner rules out membership of the AfD. “I was previously a member of the CDU, but I returned the party register. Now I don’t want to be a party member anymore.”

Lochner – a carpenter and restaurateur by trade – had already dominated the first round of voting on November 26. He then received 32.9 percent of the votes, ahead of Thiele (23.2 percent) and Dollinger-Knuth (20.3 percent). The independent candidate André Liebscher (13.7) and Ralf Wätzig (SPD, supported by the Greens/almost 10 percent) did not get into the second round and supported the CDU candidate Dollinger-Knuth. Lochner is the successor to Klaus-Peter Hanke (independent), who no longer stood as a candidate for the mayoral elections. (sda/dpa)